Author: Chris M. Day

I'm almost 59 years old. I've been online for 33 years - starting with my own dial-up bulletin board system in 1993 - and continuing with AOL, my own dot.com web site, Myspace, WordPress, Twitter / X, Flickr, and Facebook.

Categories
2000s Bible Blogging Christian Church God Music Radio Scripture

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2007

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 1ST Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday February 04TH 2007:

  1. “Nostalgiatopia” – Eleventyseven
  2. “Morning Air” – The Wedding
  3. “Live Like We’re Alive” – Nevertheless
  4. “Forgiven” – Relient K
  5. “Jesus Freak” – Chasing Victory

15 years ago I maintained and published online a Top 25 chart each week, and there’s my Top 5. That’s a good sampling right there of Christian pop, punk, and hard rock.

You know I never knew the original “Jesus Freak” song from DC Talk. That version was released back during the Summer of 1995 when I didn’t know God. Although it kinda sorta crossed over to Mainstream Top 40 radio it was just a very minor hit – peaking just below the Billboard Hot 100 nationwide. TobyMac (as a solo artist) released his own version of “Jesus Freak” on a LIVE album in 2008. Newsboys (Michael Tait era) have performed “Jesus Freak” LIVE in concert over the past dozen years. (TobyMac and Michael Tait were 2 out of 3 of DC Talk. The other – Kevin Max.)

I love the Chasing Victory version that hit my chart in 2007. It sounded great on the radio, and I always cranked it up loud and proud. You know – I didn’t really care if they labeled me a “Jesus Freak”. And I still don’t. I cherish that label today.

If you click on the Chasing Victory link up at # 5 above it takes you to their very active Myspace site. That’s right – Myspace. Now that’s retro !

Next #RetroFriday I’ll go back 25 years ago to February 1997.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going retro with me !

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Photography Travel

My Carnival Liberty Vacation 2022

And now Week 3 of my 7-week series on my 8-day fun-filled vacation on the Carnival Liberty out of Miami Florida.

It’s Day 4 of my cruise, and we arrive in beautiful Aruba early on a Tuesday morning just before 8 AM ship’s time (Miami Florida) / 9 AM local time. I didn’t have a shore excursion until 1 PM, so I had plenty of time to relax on the ship, and to also walk into the downtown area (just off the pier) to take some pictures and do some souvenir shopping.

The port is Oranjestad. Also at the port was a small Church of Scientology cruise ship – and an old familiar friend from a decade ago – the Norwegian Epic (now based out of San Juan Puerto Rico). I sailed on two 7-day cruises on the Epic 13 months apart in December 2011 and January 2013. The first cruise was a lot of fun during the 7 days leading-up to Christmas Eve. The second cruise was not as much fun with various maintenance issues with my cabin and poor customer service. I haven’t sailed on #NCL since, and I don’t plan to anytime soon. But it was cool to see the Epic docked at the port. I wish her and her passengers many happy sailings !

Oranjestad is located on the upper south coast of Aruba. It’s the capital and largest city of Aruba with a 2010 population of over 28,000. Accounting for small growth since then it may be a little over 30,000 today. Aruba itself has a population of between 110,000 and 120,000, so a little over 25% of the nation’s population live within the capital. Aruba is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It’s located less than 20 miles north of Venezuela and the top of the South American continent. It’s about 20 miles wide from northwest to southeast, and it’s always less than 6 miles from north coast to south coast.

I took an organized bus tour of the island for 4+ hours. I was last on the island in October 2012 (via another Carnival cruise). I did a similar tour back then. Looking back at my photos from 2012 we visited many of the same places on this tour. It was a fun tour that covered the western two-thirds of the island. Our bus driver / tour guide was very knowledgeable, and he had a fun sense of humor.

I took almost 50 photos of the island. I’ve selected six of the best to present here:

Next #TravelThursday – it’s on to Bonaire.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 259

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:

COUNTUP FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY JANUARY 30TH 2022 WEEK 259
TW LW WKS SONG TITLE ARTIST / SITE
1 1 12 Weary Traveler
[7TH week @ # 1]		 Jordan St. Cyr
2 4 4 River Of Life Mac Powell
3 2 17 Come What May We Are Messengers
4 3 14 In The House Crowder
5 6 8 Jesus Is Coming Back Jordan Feliz Ft. Mandisa & Jonathan Traylor
6 5 5 Walking Free Micah Tyler
7 9 2 Too Good To Not Believe Brandon Lake Ft. Jenn Johnson
8 – 1 Holy Spirit Come Patrick Mayberry
9 – 1 See Me Through It Brandon Heath
10 – 1 Brighter Days Blessing Offor

# 1 This Week In:
2021 – “Every Step Of The Way” – Cade Thompson
2020 – “Rescue Story” – Zach Williams
2019 – “Nobody Loves Me Like You” – Chris Tomlin
2018 – “Gracefully Broken” – Matt Redman Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard

NEW # 1 CONTENDER – As Jordan St. Cyr spends his 7TH week atop my chart Mac Powell becomes the 4TH artist to occupy the # 2 spot behind Jordan following Ryan Ellis, Crowder, and We Are Messengers. It’s Mac’s debut smash as a solo artist. He was previously the lead singer of Third Day for 27 years (1991-2018). Their “Soul On Fire” from 2015 is a favorite of mine as a recurrent that I didn’t discover until 2 years later (when this era began). I’m really liking Mac’s “River Of Life”. It’s got the same feel as “Soul On Fire”. A little more radio airplay on K-LOVE could propel it to # 1.

BRANDON HEATH – He’s back with his first hit on my chart in over 4 years (since “Whole Heart” peaked at # 2). His new track – “See Me Through It” – is poppy and catchy – easy to sing along and move around to. It should last a long time at U.S. Christian radio (and hence my chart). Here’s the official audio video that’s posted on Brandon’s YouTube account:

This blog is # 35 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends !  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday January 30TH 2022, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

You may notice that my blog looks a little bit different than it used to. A few days ago I changed the “theme” of my WordPress blog. (A “theme” is the way that a blog looks – the overall appearance of it.) Basically I got bored with the way that it used to look, so I changed it up a bit. I’m still tweaking it so that it looks as close as possible to the way that I want it to look. Not every theme is perfect, and each one has its own set of irregularities and glitches. It’s all “window dressing”. It’s the content of the blog that really matters, and my goal is to produce a high-quality product that interests you – my reader.

You know sometimes we dress ourselves up real nice. I tend to wear my nicest clothes on Sundays for church service, and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at my workplace. That’s a collared polo shirt, pants (not jeans), and shoes (not sneakers). On Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays I dress down – even more so if I’m staying in and not leaving my home.

But no matter what I’m wearing it’s all “window dressing”. I’m the same me whether I’m dressed-up or not. The me on Sunday with my church family is the same me on Tuesday with my work family is the same me on Saturday sitting at home on my computer with my television on while doing laundry. The me on land is the same me at sea. My “theme” changes daily, but my content remains relatively stable.

I have irregularities and glitches. I’m far from perfect. I’m a sinner. But God’s grace and mercy redeems me. He redeems me from death, and crowns me with love and tender mercies. (Psalm 103:4)

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

All rights reserved (c) 2022 Christopher M. Day, CountUp